UW-Madison offers late-night food for Halloween event

UW–Madison has consistently opposed large-scale, late-night Halloween activities or events on Library Mall or State Street.

However, as a result of the city of Madison’s approval of a street permit for events organized by student government, the university has agreed to help students keep the event as safe as possible.

“We have been clear in our opposition to expanding Halloween-related activities, and have denied requests to allow concerts or other major events on campus that will further attract people to the festivities,” says Casey Nagy, executive assistant to Chancellor John Wiley.

“With the permit granted, as a university we now have to turn our attention to doing what we can to make these events as safe as possible, with the recognition of the event’s past problems and large numbers of participants engaging in high-risk drinking.

“We met with students and university officials on Monday [Oct. 18] and offered to subsidize food for the event because that’s the number one thing we could do to help neutralize the cumulative effects of alcohol and the acting out that has plagued recent Halloween celebrations,” Nagy says.

The university will provide up to $15,000 for food to be served beginning at midnight on Saturday, Oct. 30, and continuing until 3 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 31, by Associated Students of Madison volunteers. Another $2,000 will help plan and publicize hayrides for families and the other daytime events students have scheduled for Library Mall.

The university had already agreed to share the cost of stadium-style lighting with the city and will contribute policing resources to the city-led event.

Though Halloween is not a university event, UW–Madison continues to actively participate in the city-led planning process in an effort to have the event go as smoothly as possible.

“We’ve been at the Halloween discussion table from the beginning with a consistent position. For others to intimate that we’ve suddenly become involved or changed our position is patently false,” Nagy adds.

Nagy says the university is doing its part to make the event safe for revelers. Participants also have a responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others, and will be held accountable for their Halloween actions.

Students engaging in criminal behavior that has an impact on other members of the university community – on or off campus – can face sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion, both of which could affect student status at the UW–Madison.

In addition, the Offices of the Dean of Students will review every case of student criminal behavior for possible application of non-academic misconduct under University of Wisconsin System Administrative Code, Chapter 17.

Likewise, information about criminal behavior by friends or guests from other colleges or universities will be forwarded to their own campus student affairs staff.

In addition, the Madison Police Department, the District Attorney’s office and the City Attorney’s office are planning to aggressively prosecute cases.